Generally, modern computer applications are very resource intensive because they interact extensively with hardware and software components of computer systems on which they run. Despite the fact that developers constantly improve operation of these applications and their interaction with computer systems, the demand for system resources continues to grow steadily as the complexity of these applications increases. An example of resource-demanding applications is antivirus applications. Antivirus applications interact extensively with system's software and hardware components during system scans for malicious software, such as viruses, worms, spyware and other types of malware that threatens security of the computer system.
Some computer applications, including many antivirus applications, allow user to adjust various application settings in order to control execution of program tasks. These changes to the application settings may affect system resource utilization, including processor, memory, hard drive and network utilization. In some instances, changes to the application settings may overload the computer system and impair its performance. Accordingly, there is a need for a technique for assessing effects of different program settings on a computer system and for dynamically adjusting program settings in order to improve system resource utilization.